Russell Henley wields hot putter to win Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open

Russell Henley leaves his feet after making a birdie putt on the 18th hole that forced a playoff against B.J. Staten on Sunday in the final round of the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open in Ponte Vedra Beach.

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Whatever they’re feeding the golfers at the University of Georgia should start appearing on the football team’s nutrition plan.

UGa graduate Russell Henley won his second Web.com Tour event as a professional and his third overall on Sunday when he poured in a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course to tie B.J. Staten, and then won the playoff hole at No. 18 with a par to capture the Web.com Tour’s Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open.

Henley (65) and Staten (68) both finished at 10-under-par 270 to share the 72-hole scoring record in the three-year history of the tournament. It was the first playoff of the event. Henley tied the front nine scoring record set earlier in the week by another Georgia graduate, Hudson Swafford, with a 5-under 30. He drained four putts from 15 feet or longer.

Staten had a two-shot lead with two holes to play, but bogeyed the 17th and missed a 15-foot birdie attempt on No. 18 to go into the playoff.

Henley, who was already assured of his PGA Tour card for 2013 when he won in a playoff at the Chiquita Classic in Charlotte, N.C., moved from ninth to third on the Web.com Tour list with the first-place check of $108,000.

In the past three years, Georgia golfers have combined to win five times on the PGA Tour and seven on the Web.com Tour, led by Bubba Watson’s four Tour titles and his Masters victory this season. Chris Kirk won on the PGA Tour in 2011, and others who have won on the Web.com Tour during that span in addition to Henley are Swafford and Kirk.

Brian Harman and Harris English are exempt members of the PGA Tour. Henley will be there next year, with Swafford on track off the Web.com Tour money list. All of Georgia’s players currently on the Web.com Tour or PGA Tour were coach by Chris Haack.

“What Haacker does is offer help but let you do your own thing,” Henley said. “Some guys want to play and not practice. Some guys want to stay on the range all day. He lets them do what they do and not get in their way. He told me once that a good coach lets a good player play.”

Henley caught Staten, the 54-hole leader, with a birdie putt at No. 9. The two were tied three more times on the back as they pulled away from the rest of the field.

Henley’s tying putt, accompanied by several fist pumps and a bit of a sack dance, was greeted with yells of “Go ’Dawgs” and barking. “I heard it during the round,” Henley said of the Georgia fans in the crowd. “I think it was the same guy.”

As he sized up the putt, Henley remembered one thing he read in an article about how Jack Nicklaus approached pressure putts.

“He said the only thing he tried was to believe in his line and make a confident stroke,” Henley said. “That’s what I tried to do all day when I was nervous — put a confident stroke on it. I had the right read, and it was really cool seeing it go in.”

Staten admitted, “the playoff was a debacle.” His second shot went over the green and he chipped back too hard, with the ball going over the green and into the rough on the other side of the hole. Staten chipped 6 feet past the hole and missed a bogey attempt.

Henley waited patiently to attempt his birdie attempt from 16 feet. He could have three-putted to win but needed only two.

“I try to look as the glass being half full, and one beat me over 72 holes,” Staten said of the tie. “I can state that with a lot of confidence. And I got to next week, which was one of my goals this week.”

Next week is the Web.com Tour Championship at the TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. The top-60 money leaders after the Jacksonville Open play there, and the top 25 on the money list then get their Tour cards. Staten moved from 69th to 32nd with his runner-up check of $64,800 and is $27,420 behind No. 35 Camilo Benedetti.